Program Description
Overview
Level-up your career with the MFA-meets-Artist-Residency program featuring international faculty mentors. Rooted in critical investigation and self-disciplined creative practice, the Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies program is ideal for students who seek the challenge and community of an immersive graduate program with a flexible structure. This program is perfect for most working artists, teachers, and professionals seeking a graduate degree that fits with their current lifestyle.
Structure
This 60-credit graduate program combines 3 intensive on-site residencies with periods of mentor-supported distance learning.
For three consecutive summers, students gather in Portland to study with graduate faculty and an international roster of visiting artists, fostering dialogue and comradery while creating new work.
The program’s interdisciplinary emphasis spans studio and media arts, performance, writing, and community-engaged practices.
When not attending the summer residencies, each student in the program is thoughtfully paired with an experienced professional artist who will meet with the student and act as a mentor. This one-on-one relationship fosters a highly customized and individualized educational experience. The mentor-based experience encourages self-disciplined and boldly experimental creative practice, while supporting the individual student’s needs.
Studio Space
During the summer intensives, low-residency MFA students receive constant access to individual studio spaces to make and store their work. Students have access to all the incredible facilities PNCA has to offer which includes tools, equipment, workstations, and production areas for painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and furniture design, photography, animation, video and sound production, AR + VR, digital fabrication, game design, physical computing and interaction, illustration, textiles, and fashion at both the downtown Portland campus and in the glass building, a 25,000 sq ft former glass factory that houses workshop and fabrication spaces as well as graduate studios.
Take a virtual tour of our facilities.
Funding & Support
Click here for more information about funding and support or contact Graduate Admissions directly for individual advising.
Eligibility & Application
Statement of Purpose [500 -700 words]
Use this statement to address the focus of your work and the direction you wish to pursue in the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program. Discuss your reasons for applying to PNCA’s Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program and the artistic goals you wish to achieve during your time in the program. Be specific as to your focus of research and how you see this evolving or changing during your time in the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program. Describe the pathway you envision for yourself as part of the program. Discuss the issues, concerns and influences in your work.
Portfolio of 10-15 images
How to put together a strong portfolio for Low Residency Visual Studies
It is recommended that submitted work be recent and represent the applicant’s strongest work. We look for portfolios that show evidence of engagement in critical thought. This selection of work can be in a variety of disciplines and does not necessarily need to be a single, cohesive body of work. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the program, varied modes of making are understood and appreciated.
Find out more about our general graduate application requirements.
Meet with us!
For more information about the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program, get in touch with Ryan Pierce rpierce@willamette.edu.
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2023 National Portfolio Day Hosted at PNCA
Sunday, November 5, 2023
12:00-4:00pm in the 511 NW Broadway Atrium
Learn more about our Undergraduate programs and what major would be best for you!
Find more info and to register for National Portfolio Day.
About Us:
Reimagining what art and design can do in the world.
We're a century old art school with a focus on the future in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, one of the most creative and livable cities in the country.
Pacific Northwest College of Art is the leading professional arts and design school in the Northwest; we are the heartbeat of learning and experimentation in Portland’s vibrant cultural ecosystem. We spark curiosity and sharpen skills so students can build creative careers anchored in innovation, justice and civic imagination.
PNCA Graduate Symposium: Art + Social Consciousness
PNCA welcomes the Portland community to participate in this year’s Graduate Symposium with keynote speakers featuring: Nina Elder + vanessa german!
Amanda Ross-Ho and Catherine Taft, in conversation, hosted by PNCA & ILY2
The Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies, in collaboration with ILY2, is pleased to announce a conversation between artist Amanda Ross-Ho and writer and curator Catherine Taft.
MFA Open Studios: November 2nd + 18th
The Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies welcomes the Portland community to see what our MFA students have been making!
October First Thursday at PNCA + North Park Blocks - 10/05/23
The Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at Pacific Northwest College of Art is excited to invite the public to the October First Thursday Art Walk in the North Park Blocks for a series of exhibition openings, performances, live music, drop-in activities and refreshments!